Pulling the Weeds

So, I sprained my ankle recently - for the second time in a week - and I decided the Universe was telling me that I needed to slow down. I'm trying to do too much and I need to reset.

I do this to myself sometimes. Somehow I've got this idea that being busy means you are valuable, needed, important.

What a load of BS.

I got a healthy dose of perspective today while my wife and I cleaned out the garden. We ripped out weeds, pruned bushes, and re-potted plants to bring them inside for the winter. It was so satisfying. Getting my hands in the dirt is good for keeping me grounded and getting my head clear. Gardening is both peace and joy for me.

As I'm sure you know, in gardens, weeds prevent the productive plants from being able to get the nutrients they need to bear fruit.

Some of them, like my nemesis, pigweed, will even surround something you want to grow and block out the light. And the bushes - they get super scraggly, which will prevent them from growing strong at the base next year.

Like gardens, our lives and businesses can become cluttered and unruly. We add and add and add until it is hard to see what is serving us and what is just noise. Projects can become diluted, no longer true to their original vision. And we can become so busy that we no longer focus on the important, only on the urgent or the easy.

Fall is a good time of the year for pulling these metaphorical weeds - getting rid of that which no longer serves you - whether that be ideas about your business, beliefs about yourself or more tangible things like programs or courses.

We have to clear all that out to make room for the beliefs that support us and the offerings that are bringing in revenue and feeding our souls. Sometimes the weeds are beautiful, but if they aren't what you want to grow, then they have got to go.

We are preparing for a time of year that is about rest and rejuvenation. Let's clean out the crap, shall we?

Today we made room for the plants we want by clearing out the stuff we don't want. We pruned back the bushes so that next year they will grow strong.